Befana is one of the gift givers in Italian Christmas culture. She is usually portrayed as a witch, complete with broomstick (this is how she carries and distributes her gifts); images vary on how "witchlike" her face is. Her traditional day to leave gifts is on the eve of the Epiphany ("Befana" is a corruption of the word "Epiphania"). Italian tradition would leave Christmas as a sacred holiday and leave Epiphany for gift-giving and partying. But today of course many Italian children follow the "Santa Claus" legend (he is also known as "Babbo Natale," "Father Christmas" there).
Befana is also left a treat, the way American children leave Santa Claus cookies and milk and British children give Father Christmas a piece of Christmas cake and a glass of wine: she is given a goblet of wine along with an orange.
More about La Befana, and another interesting page about her—and a Canadian Italian page as well.
The story surrounding her origin is similar to the Russian Babushka.
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